Bangladesh suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat to China in their Pool B second match of the men’s U-18 Asia Cup Hockey at the Kawasaki Heavy Industries Hockey Stadium in Kakamigahara, Japan on Sunday.

Bangladesh squandered their lead twice after Munna Islam opened the account from penalty corner in the ninth minute of the game before Bolang Xuan restored the parity for China in the 31st minute, also from penalty corner.

Bangladesh went up again in the 34th minute when Akash Tuhin scored from open play, only to see Youwei Zhang score from open play in the 43rd minute.

Jiazhen Liao scored the decisive goal by converting a penalty stroke in the 49th minute.

Bangladesh, who began their campaign with a 4-2 win over Malaysia, are in a must-win situation against Pakistan to secure a spot in the semi-finals, which is scheduled on Wednesday.

Pakistan are leading the Pool B table on goal difference, while Bangladesh, Malaysia and China fill the next three places, respectively, all tied with three points each after playing two games.

A total of nine-team split in to two pools are competing in the sixth edition of the age-level competition and top two teams from each pool will advance to the semi-finals.  

However, in the previous edition of this tournament, Bangladesh earned a 5-2 win over hosts China in July 2025.